Worst Airlines/Flight Experiences

Turned up to Glasgow this morning to find my flight to Philadelphia is delayed by 3 hours. Meaning I miss my connection onto San Francisco, so I've now been bumped onto a later flight and won't get to California until 6am tomorrow morning.

I vowed never to fly with American Airlines after a previous horrific experience coming back from Chicago, but this was booked through my work.

Just tell me the price and I'll decide whether or not I want to pay it rather than hide, obfuscate, and sneak extra little bits on here, there and everywhere.

The last time I flew with them I'd forgotten to print off boarding passes before getting to the airport. I accepted that there would be a fee to do this - but not £80 each for the two of us, so it was £160 to print off a couple of bits of paper at the airport.

Just tell me the price and I'll decide whether or not I want to pay it rather than hide, obfuscate, and sneak extra little bits on here, there and everywhere.

The last time I flew with them I'd forgotten to print off boarding passes before getting to the airport. I accepted that there would be a fee to do this - but not £80 each for the two of us, so it was £160 to print off a couple of bits of paper at the airport.

I avoid them like the plague now.

That is scandalous - never flown with them and plan to avoid it if possible.

Always been quite happy with Jet2 or Easyjet at the low cost end. Loganair for the Coffee and Tunnocks Caramel Wafer (well worth the £400 return from Edinburgh to Kirkwall or Sumburgh ).

EasyJet are by far the worst, delayed all the time, rude staff at all levels. Avoid them at all costs if possible now.

We fly with Ryanair 2 or 3 times a year and have never had any issues with them, feared the worst when our flight got cancelled due to the ash cloud a few years ago but they were the easiest to deal with.

Always hear complaints about American Airlines but again never had any issues with them (watch our flights in October be ruined now! )

EasyJet are by far the worst, delayed all the time, rude staff at all levels. Avoid them at all costs if possible now.

We fly with Ryanair 2 or 3 times a year and have never had any issues with them, feared the worst when our flight got cancelled due to the ash cloud a few years ago but they were the easiest to deal with.

Always hear complaints about American Airlines but again never had any issues with them (watch our flights in October be ruined now! )

This definitely isn't the first issue I've had, and I know a LOT of other folk who just won't fly with them. After the hell I've had today, I can see why.

Credit where it's due, they organised a hotel and new flight very efficiently this evening - but they seem so well oiled in dealing with disastrous experiences rather than providing a decent service that doesn't require that.

Not so much the airlines themselves but the people who fly easyjet and Ryanair.

Passengers queuing 3 hours before take off in a manner that I would expect to see if the apocalypse was arriving to ensure their suitcase can go in the overhead to avoid paying for it to go in the hold depresses the hell out of me.

Rivalled only by the ****s who've paid speedy boarding and act as if they are flying 1st class London to LA rather than actually just getting on a plane from Stanstead to Alicante before the rest of the riff raff.

Turned up to Glasgow this morning to find my flight to Philadelphia is delayed by 3 hours. Meaning I miss my connection onto San Francisco, so I've now been bumped onto a later flight and won't get to California until 6am tomorrow morning.

I vowed never to fly with American Airlines after a previous horrific experience coming back from Chicago, but this was booked through my work.

Is there a worse airline out there than American?

My American Airlines flight back to Edinburgh from JFK in July was cancelled, after we'd sat on the plane for 6 hours.
During that time we'd been given one glass of water and two biscuits.
Disembarked into the terminal at 1:30am, we had to queue to be rebooked.
There were families with children, and many older people on that flight.
At 4am, and still not booked onto a replacement flight, the ticket agent walked off in a huff because one of the passnegers - a guy with a young kid - raised his voice. I don't agree with him raising his voice, but she just walked off and left us.
Eventually at 5:30am, we got rebooked onto the following night's flight. Which was already busy so families were split up and couldn't sit together. We were given vouchers for a hotel and put on a bus, which then took us almost 50 miles, nearly into the next state.

No compensation, as American Airlines aren't signed up to the EU compensation scheme. No compensation from BA, who I'd booked with, as they weren't the carrier.

Received $200 voucher for money off an American Airlines flight. Which I will never use because i will never fly with them ever again.

Rivalled only by the ****s who've paid speedy boarding and act as if they are flying 1st class London to LA rather than actually just getting on a plane from Stanstead to Alicante before the rest of the riff raff.

Haha. They've effectively purchased what passes for 1st class with EasyJet. What is it about their behaviour that annoys you so much?

From the outset Ryanair's competitiveness has been based on short turn-round times, meaning that they can squeeze an extra flight or two per day from their aircraft and crews compared to other airlines.

The problem with that is that if a plane is delayed even slightly early in the day, the knock-on effect can be disastrous given that there's no slack built into their schedules.

I've flown dozens of times with Ryanair (basically an automatic choice given that they're the only airline who fly to my local airport - unless I want to go to the Channel Islands) and my basic rule is, the later in the day the Ryanair flight, the more time you leave between connections. It's always worked for me.

I like Easyjet and Ryanair. They are what they are. If I want to jump on a flight with a hand bag and get from A to B for £45 then they are great value. There's no point moaning about having to pay for extras as that's exactly what they are. If you want hold baggage, a drink and snacks and extra legroom as standard then pay BA their asking price. If you want to add them on to a Ryanair flight then pay the extra cost.

PM Awards General Poster of The Year 2015, 2016, 2017. Probably robbed in other years

I like Easyjet and Ryanair. They are what they are. If I want to jump on a flight with a hand bag and get from A to B for £45 then they are great value. There's no point moaning about having to pay for extras as that's exactly what they are. If you want hold baggage, a drink and snacks and extra legroom as standard then pay BA their asking price. If you want to add them on to a Ryanair flight then pay the extra cost.

That's how I see it. I always found it ridiculous to see flight attendants running about daft trying to serve then clear 150 (or whatever) meals during a flight that's in the air for about 50 minutes.

Don’t fly much but when we flew from Edinburgh at the end of June it was utter chaos.

The terminal was full of literally hundreds of people who were queuing to get into a tiny gap to check their bags in. People were jumping the “queue” so tempers were being lost and people were moaning to the little staff that were available that they were going to miss their flight. You also had another bunch of people who were cutting accross the queue looking for a way out, only to find it was blocked off.

When we did eventually get to the end, we were shown to a self service bag check in thing...which was crap. It told me my bag was overweight (which it wasn’t) and the tag that was supposed to come out got jammed in the machine. It then told me I had gone over my bag limit when I tried to check my second bag in.

Fair play to the young guy who helped us though. He looked stressed as hell as they were dreadfully understaffed and he’s probably paid peanuts. If that was me I probably would’ve walked out as it looked like they’d been thrown under a bus.

Contrast that with Palma airport on the way back which seems to be so much bigger and better organised. Granted, it was one of the busiest days of the year but Edinburgh needs expanding big time as it physically couldn’t cope.

Not so much the airlines themselves but the people who fly easyjet and Ryanair.

Passengers queuing 3 hours before take off in a manner that I would expect to see if the apocalypse was arriving to ensure their suitcase can go in the overhead to avoid paying for it to go in the hold depresses the hell out of me.

Rivalled only by the ****s who've paid speedy boarding and act as if they are flying 1st class London to LA rather than actually just getting on a plane from Stanstead to Alicante before the rest of the riff raff.

What if you've paid for speedy boarding and you're not a **** who acts as if they are flying 1st class London to LA?

What if you've paid for speedy boarding and you're not a **** who acts as if they are flying 1st class London to LA?

They don't exist so it doesn't matter.

The only thing Ryanair have ever done that annoyed me was telling me at the gate that I'd have to check my bag into the hold as there was "no space". I told them it was small and would fit on the ground by my feet without an issue rather than the overhead, but they insisted that I give it to someone standing by the plane who would then put it in the hold and asked me to put a sticker on to signal this.

Never mind there being enough space, there was a whole spare seat next to me as the flight wasn't even full! Thankfully I just hadn't put the sticker on my bag or handed it to anyone and was able to enjoy the extra space with my bag at the free seat.

The only thing Ryanair have ever done that annoyed me was telling me at the gate that I'd have to check my bag into the hold as there was "no space". I told them it was small and would fit on the ground by my feet without an issue rather than the overhead, but they insisted that I give it to someone standing by the plane who would then put it in the hold and asked me to put a sticker on to signal this.

Never mind there being enough space, there was a whole spare seat next to me as the flight wasn't even full! Thankfully I just hadn't put the sticker on my bag or handed it to anyone and was able to enjoy the extra space with my bag at the free seat.

When you're walking down the jet bridge just rip the sticker/label off, the luggage handlers will be none the wiser, I have done that before.

Don't mind Jet2 or Easyjet and regularly fly with both. Wouldn't touch Ryanair with a barge pole and will never fly with them again. So much so that if it means not getting to where I need to be, I simply wont go. Recommend Delta if flying direct to US from Scotland as their planes have IFE which makes a big difference on a long flight.

Scariest flight......Flew to Tunisia from Manchester years ago with Monarch and the bloody plane went on fire and we had to make an emergency landing. Waited for hours for a new plane that never came and they ended up putting us on the original plane thats engine/wing had just been on fire. To say we were shi tting ourselves the rest of the journey is an understatement. A true squeaky bum time moment lol.

I have a minimum 32 7 hour flights per year so it seems I'm never out the bloody sky! To be honest I've nothing but praise for the airlines I fly with. Qatar, Emirates, Etihaad, Air India, Air China.
The biggest annoyance is badly behaved children. I've got 4 of my own so I know how they can get bored but there's no excuse for parents allowing their brats to run wild and disturb other passengers. I've learned to suss out the areas of the plane where people with children usually sit so avoid them if I can when booking seats.

Don't mind Jet2 or Easyjet and regularly fly with both. Wouldn't touch Ryanair with a barge pole and will never fly with them again. So much so that if it means not getting to where I need to be, I simply wont go. Recommend Delta if flying direct to US from Scotland as their planes have IFE which makes a big difference on a long flight.

Scariest flight......Flew to Tunisia from Manchester years ago with Monarch and the bloody plane went on fire and we had to make an emergency landing. Waited for hours for a new plane that never came and they ended up putting us on the original plane thats engine/wing had just been on fire. To say we were shi tting ourselves the rest of the journey is an understatement. A true squeaky bum time moment lol.

We had a near miss with Monarch too. Must be about ten years ago now, all on the plane just about to taxi off when someone outside noticed fuel was leaking from the plane. If we’d have taken off it would have caught fire. They were then a total nightmare to deal with.

Don’t fly much but when we flew from Edinburgh at the end of June it was utter chaos.

The terminal was full of literally hundreds of people who were queuing to get into a tiny gap to check their bags in. People were jumping the “queue” so tempers were being lost and people were moaning to the little staff that were available that they were going to miss their flight. You also had another bunch of people who were cutting accross the queue looking for a way out, only to find it was blocked off.

When we did eventually get to the end, we were shown to a self service bag check in thing...which was crap. It told me my bag was overweight (which it wasn’t) and the tag that was supposed to come out got jammed in the machine. It then told me I had gone over my bag limit when I tried to check my second bag in.

Fair play to the young guy who helped us though. He looked stressed as hell as they were dreadfully understaffed and he’s probably paid peanuts. If that was me I probably would’ve walked out as it looked like they’d been thrown under a bus.

Contrast that with Palma airport on the way back which seems to be so much bigger and better organised. Granted, it was one of the busiest days of the year but Edinburgh needs expanding big time as it physically couldn’t cope.

Don't know what time of the day you've been at Palma but anytime I've been it's been utter hell. Massive queues at passport control, massive queue's at every food outlet (of which there are only a handful) and delays in departure every time I've flown from there. Majorca is great in that it's 2.5 hours away and a beautiful island, and guaranteed sunshine. Palma airport puts me off going back though.

Don't know what time of the day you've been at Palma but anytime I've been it's been utter hell. Massive queues at passport control, massive queue's at every food outlet (of which there are only a handful) and delays in departure every time I've flown from there. Majorca is great in that it's 2.5 hours away and a beautiful island, and guaranteed sunshine. Palma airport puts me off going back though.

When you're walking down the jet bridge just rip the sticker/label off, the luggage handlers will be none the wiser, I have done that before.

Expect a delay then. When there's no more room on the aircraft then bags will have to be offloaded and this takes time due to them having to be retagged, the loading list updated and the baggage handlers might have to be recalled to open the hold. If the baggage handlers have already started loading/unloading another aircraft then this could take even longer meaning the aircraft will probably lose its slot causing an even longer delay and possibly a cancellation due to crew going out of hours.

Turned up to Glasgow this morning to find my flight to Philadelphia is delayed by 3 hours. Meaning I miss my connection onto San Francisco, so I've now been bumped onto a later flight and won't get to California until 6am tomorrow morning.

I vowed never to fly with American Airlines after a previous horrific experience coming back from Chicago, but this was booked through my work.

Is there a worse airline out there than American?

If your flight landed more than 3 hours late then because you took off from an EU airport, you're entitled to compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004.

The only airlines I've had an issue with have been Emirates and United.

Emirates was due to the ash cloud. We were due to fly home from New Zealand the day it happened. We were taken aside at the airport and told we wouldn't be flying and to go to the Emirates office in Auckland the next day. No help or assistance with accommodation was offered. We were lucky as my ex-sister-in-law lived there so we could stay with her. There were backpackers who had no money left who were basically told to find a park bench to sleep on. The next day, we were told the absolute earliest they could get us back would be the end of July... this is mid-April. All they could suggest is that you went back to the office each day in the hope there was a cancellation on a flight but they would not operate a waiting list. This went on for two weeks and I lost the plot with the lady who got security over to remove me at which point my ex burst into tears... all of a sudden security were told to hold back and we were on a flight in two days time to London on the condition we had to organise our own transport from London to Scotland.

The United incident was our outbound flight for our honeymoon. They sent me a text in the middle of the night (a few hours before we were due to travel) that simply said "Your flight is cancelled". Nothing else. I phone them to see what was going on, their call centre staff are by the rudest pricks I've ever dealt with. Anyway, they arrange for us to go to Chicago via Newark (we were due to fly direct to Chicago) and I immediately point out that the connection time is not enough (it was 45 minutes). They insist it is more than enough time. We tell the flight attendants on the first flight and they immediately tell us that is really tight as we have to collect our bags, go through immigration and check our bags in again but that we should tell a member of staff at the airport and we will be fast tracked. We told a member of staff and were told to 'f' off, so we had to beg people in front of us to skip the queues. We got to the gate in the nick of time but they had taken us off the flight. They found two seats for us (not next to each other) and when we got on the plane there were people in it - they had double issued the seats!